CSBK Champion Reunion at Hall of Fame Event

Toronto, ON  –  Seven racers who have earned the overall Canadian motorcycle roadracing Championship aboard Superbikes will be on hand for the Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame Banquet and Reunion at the Sheraton Airport Hotel and Conference Centre in Toronto, Saturday, November 2.  The 14th annual event showcases the top individuals and groups associated with motorcycle activity in Canada.

Next year marks the 40th Anniversary of the Superbike category in Canada, and Mopar CSBK organizers are launching the celebration of the anniversary at the upcoming Hall of Fame gala.  Activities planned for the November 2 event include video coverage that will support the Anniversary throughout 2020.

1980 was the first time that a Superbike-class racer could earn the overall Pro-level number one plate in Canada.  At the time, it was expected that a Grand Prix class rider would take the honor, but instead Mississauga, ON’s George Morin won the opening race in June in Edmonton, AB, and then placed second at the series final at Nelson International near Shannonville, ON, to clinch the title for Kawasaki.

Inducted into the Hall of fame in 2015, Morin will be on hand at the event to visit with fans and his fellow number one plate holders.

Rueben McMurter, from the Hall’s Class of 2011, will also attend. McMurter was a title favourite in 1980, his first full season as a Pro, and eventually took the overall Championship for Honda in 1988.  Long-time London, ON, based, “Rueb” was a frontline Pro in the U.S.A. and Canada throughout the 1980s, and is credited with elevation the overall level of professionalism with the CSBK National tour.

Lang Hindle is famous for his family’s race parts business, based in Port Perry, ON, but is also considered the father of Superbike racing in Canada.  After a lengthy career across North America, Hindle retired from competition in the late 1970s but returned to the track with the adoption of the street-based Superbike category.  In 1981, Hindle took the overall title for Kawasaki. Hindle joined the Hall of Fame in 2006.

Star of this year’s Ceremony, at least from a road racing fan’s point of view, will be the Induction for Toronto’s Michael Taylor. The overall road racing Champion aboard Kawasaki Superbikes in 1994 and 1996, Taylor had a lengthy career aboard a wide range of motorcycles, winning numerous support class National crowns, too. Taylor also survived and successfully recovered from a range of extreme injuries, along the way becoming a crowd favorite.

Also joining the class of 2019 on November 2 is road racer Clive Ng-A-Kien of Toronto.  Although he built his reputation aboard Grand Prix-class two-stroke racers, including a start at the Isle of Man in 1983, Ng-A-Kien was also a works Superbike racer aboard Yamaha equipment in the mid-1980s.

Now based in Alberta, Halifax-born Don Munroe won the overall Championship twice, in 1995 and 1997, and spent much of his career battling Taylor.  Munroe was inducted into the HofF in 2006 and will attend next month to introduce Taylor.  After starting his career with Honda, Munroe earned much of his success aboard Kawasakis, including an incredible run of success in the middleweight division aboard 600cc Ninjas.

Two other racers will attend the 2019 Hall of Fame Ceremony, although they are not inductees – yet.  The winningest racer in the history of the CSBK National Series, Jordan Szoke, will take in the afternoon and evening’s activities for the first time. Currently based in Lynden, ON, Szoke has taken the overall title 13 times, as well as earning a range of other support class successes, including success in off-road activity as well.

In 2019, Collingwood, ON’s Ben Young ended Szoke’s four-year winning streak by taking the Mopar CSBK National Championship and earning the right to wear the number one plate on his BMW in 2020.  Young will attend the Hall of Fame for the first time and will join the cast of Canada’s top guns who between them have won the superbike title 21 of the 39 times that the honour has been offered.

This year’s Hall of fame event is sponsored by BMW Motorrad Canada and Federated Insurance, and activities begin with a Reunion and Reception at 3 PM, moving on to the Official Dinner and Ceremony at 6 PM.  The event is hosted by popular Canadian announcers Pat Gonsalves and Frank Wood, and tickets should be pre-booked by Wednesday, October 23, available through [email protected].